The Darkening

May 2018 Blog

While I can see, I must be about finishing my manuscripts and publishing them. I can no longer look to the future.

The Darkening: A Haiku

Against ensuing

Blackness, I would enjoy what

Light I am allowed.

Life Sucks and then you die - and life still sucks - so says George in the series "Dead Like Me" and she knows.

The time to do my “to do” list has just been shortened considerably.

I’ve been wondering why everything seems so dark all the time.  Then I closed my right eye one day and saw only clouded images in my left. So I go to the doctor (after a few months). I have cataracts, right? Yep,  in both eyes actually. But that’s not the real problem. They are not worth operating on.

What the real problem is, is inoperable. I have Macular Degeneration. Something I thought only other people got. I didn’t realize it was an insidious, creeping condition that takes you unaware. The only thing that might halt or slow it down, seems to be a vitamin/mineral supplement concoction called A REDS-2, which I started taking on April 11^th, the day after my startling diagnosis. But it’s not a cure-all and I am going blind.

How soon? Don’t know.  Hopefully the retina specialist I’ve been referred to can tell me,  but he won’t be in town until May 24^th. (We have very limited resources here in the “UFO Capitol of the World”.)

In the meantime, while I can see (especially to format), I need to publish everything I can. Guess it’s also time to get those audio-books started. I’m going to be depending on those soon. My guess is, a lot of others enjoy them for the same reason.

I guess “through a glass, darkly,” will have different meaning for me now, as I assume everything will fade away to darkness.

I have added an additional task – that of studying Macular Degeneration to see what I can expect. I may even write about – if only to warn others out there that it does exist and you must do everything you can to protect yourself.

So far, I understand that one really does need to wear sunglasses, taking an A-Reds 2 supplement for the last few years (could) have helped, and the heavy doses of diuretics I take for my congestive heart failure condition probably hasn’t done my eyes any good.  I need to learn more.

On the writing front (after spending some time on self-pity) I have gotten back to writing. I’ll be finishing my Seasons of Sam Rock sequel soon.  I’ve also started formatting my next poetry chapbook, “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume Two: The Write Life”. Getting a good start on that should help with my subsequent releases, as I’ll only have to plug into the template. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

My next novel release will be the sequel to Black Oak. I just have to polish the manuscript, format and publish as well. Okay, I have to find the files first. I swear they are here somewhere. Really, I have a hard copy in a file box somewhere, and I have computer files saved from my old dead computer. Honestly, all I have to do is track them down. They are somewhere on my new half-Terrabyte hard drive and one or the other of my one-Terrabyte external hard drives. My computer guys did so much copying and saving, I may have multiple copies.

Guess I really should straighten all that out. My Norton security scans says I have over 1 million files on each drive. But, it’s really hard for me to stare at the screen much anymore.

By-the way, computer people, do you know that those of us with compromised eyesight can’t see all your fancy color concoctions? Your clever pale blues and pinks and light greens and (especially) yellow just fade into the white background. Those fill-in boxes are getting harder and harder to see. And the browser geniuses don’t seem to offer a display option that would benefit such impairment.

So, now, I muddle along, enjoying the visions before me less and less. But, while I can see, I need (more than ever) to get my last month’s ducks in some kind of order.

I also need to teach my husband how to pay the bills. He hasn’t paid a bill in over 31 years of marriage. He’s definitely going to have to learn to compromise and juggle, as I have done all the years – managing, somehow, to keep a roof over our heads and the lights, heat and water on. Oh, joy, won’t that be fun?

In next month’s blog, I will journal my progress, both on the writing front and the vision front. As I end this month’s blog, let me share another Haiku – appropriate to the way I feel right now.

It is this: Some days it doesn’t pay to think; other days, it’s just too painful.

Timeout: A Haiku

I’ll not be thinking

Today; my brain is tired,

And it needs to rest.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

This month, I’m including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

May’s featured novel is my Middle Grade sci-fi offering: “The Aurora UFO Incident - A Novel” https://tinyurl.com/yb875xw4

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is again “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

Spring Cleaning

April 2018 Blog

This one is for me. It’s time to put my ducks in a row.

Duck Soup: A Haiku

Just as well, perhaps,

My ducks won’t line up; they would

Make easy targets.

The unfinished symphony that is my life is better described as a cacophony of strident chords punctuated by uneasy silences. Before I go to wander aimlessly among the souls in purgatory, I need to attempt some basic harmony in both my personal and my professional life.

It has occurred to me that “I may not live out the year” gets more likely as each year passes. So…

It’s time to get so organized that even my labels have labels and so productive that each literary debut is greeted with “another one? I haven’t finished reading the last one yet.”

My deepest regret is that this effort will require two things I am loathe to relinquish: (1) my frequent nap times and (2) spending so much time working jigsaw puzzles on my computer. The next thing to go would be my Twitter time, but I’m  hoping simply to make that more productive.

As to the need for labels – I am tired of looking for things I know I have somewhere, and replacing those things is an unnecessary expense I can ill afford.

I grew up being told there is “a place for everything” and to put “everything in its place”. I never realized, when I was young, how important that would be to an “old person”.

The labels themselves need to be bigger, the older I get. Also, inventories are very helpful (with locations) – so you know what you’ve got and where it is. This is especially important when you possess literally hundreds of books and VHS tapes and DVD’s and CD’s. It’s also nice to be able to grab last month’s bills to make sure you actually paid them (assuming you remembered to pay them and actually made a note on the bill).

I  know I promised myself to do all this before, but those “shiny objects” that always seem to pop up have buried my good intentions under so much glare, that I need a list to remind me to look at my lists.

Did I forget to mention lists? They are particularly important the older or busier you get. (That’s it! I’ll claim to be busy. Age has nothing to do with it. Right! And on that note, my memory fails me.)

I’ve taken to making lists of the things I need to do each day,  but I find I frequently need a list each morning to reference the things on the list I need to do. And if that’s not complicated enough, I need to do those things of a morning, so I can spend the afternoons being literary, literally (Had to throw that in).

In the early afternoons I need to find time –  to write, to edit, to publish (including formatting), to promote –  you know, all those things important to an indie writer’s career.

For writing, I need to finish several manuscripts that have lain dormant way too long. Then they join my “for editing” list which currently includes the second of three ‘Black Oak” western paranormal novellas.

My “waiting for publishing” list includes more “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade” collections, the Black Oak sequel and the Sam Rock on which I’m still working. All that will require a lot of formatting. I guess I should include putting all my books on audio, especially the novels. Audio is so popular these days, I’d be remiss not to tap that market.

Promotion is still my biggest problem. I need to post my catalog on Twitter at least daily and make use of other sites that do promotion, although my funds for such are extremely limited. I realize you can’t “hide your candle under a bushel” and expect to be successful.

So it looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me. But if I don’t get at it, I’m going to leave an awful lot “unfinished” with no one knowing how to complete what I had in mind.

I feel I owe it to myself, my family and my friends to get as much out there for posterity as I can.

We’ll see how many ducks I can put in a row this first full month of Spring –  traditionally a time of renewal.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

April’s featured novel is my Young Adult fiction: “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”.  https://tinyurl.com/ydbhv3ae

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is again “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniversary Edition”.  https://tinyurl.com/ybllonvw

By the end of April, in honor of this being National Poetry Month, I plan to debut my second “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume Two: The Write Life”.

DO-OVER

March 2018 Blog

Do-Over

I’d like this to be my last time on Earth, for I am stardust and must rejoin the Universe.

Do Over: A Haiku

I’d not wait ‘til my

Next incarnation; I’d like

To get life right now.

Can I just start the year over again? I can’t believe that two months have slipped by already.

It’s not that I haven’t done anything in two months. It’s that what I’ve done has amounted to little actual accomplishment.

Maybe this month will be different. I’m calling for a do-over.  Oh, I know I can’t get January and February back. I’m just calling for an early reset so that the rest of the year doesn’t slip away.

I think I’ll start the month with promotion. I just got this neat book by Rachel Thompson (Bad Redhead Media) called “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge.” I’m about to plunge into it.

Okay, so I got the book a couple of three weeks ago and started it once, but as usual, I got sidetracked with life and only made it through Week One – the week on Twitter promotions.

So, for my do-over, I’m starting again. I’m taking the 30-day challenge from the beginning for the month of March.

Hope I can learn to boost my sales for the rest of the year. Social Security just doesn’t stretch too far these days. My writing needs to step up and fill the gap.

I’m checking my backlist of books available on Amazon. I’m only counting seven published. (Somehow I thought it should be nine. Don’t know how that happened.) Besides promoting what I have published, I need to double my output. Actually, I could triple it with all the Haiku chapbooks I have started.

I also need to get my books on audio. I can’t believe I haven’t done that yet. So many people “listen” to books these days. It’s ridiculous I haven’t even tapped this outlet.

I may even need to set up a studio to read the poetry books myself. Although I’m sure there are some excellent poetry readers out there, no one can know all the nuances that a poet thinks into the writing of a poem.

Besides, I love reading my poems and have always enjoyed recitations of my work. Guess I’m just a ham at heart.

Lots of other things I’d like to restart this year, but life is a linear progression. Although the older you get, it seems to tend to the exponential. It will suffice if I get my “authoring” life in order. Other things may naturally fall in line.

Back to the neat book I’ve acquired from my favorite source – Amazon, of course. I bought a hard copy of the “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge” because I love to make notes and mark up the pages.

I’m glad I also acquired the Kindle version, because there are so many links to so much great information. And the links are live in the Kindle version. I’ll take a live link any day to having to type a long string of words and symbols and then getting them wrong.

My current manuscript now has the dubious honor of having taken the longest to write of any of my novels ever. I’ve done pretty well on it so far this year. I’m planning to finish it by Easter. Actually, it’s my 40-days of Lent project, but I’ve missed a few days. So, I’ll be practicing catch-up again. (When am I not?)

I’m about to get distracted again. I’m outside, sitting in the sun and the wind, watching a squirrel skitter along the fence behind the only one of my dogs who has braved the wind with me.

The squirrels love to play games, it seems. They manage to stay one step ahead of the dogs, although sometimes, just barely.

I’m also listening to the birds chirping for their afternoon offering of seeds. They (and the squirrels) have become my morning and afternoon companions. There is nothing more freeing (to me, at least) than to sit in my backyard with pen and paper and write amidst birdsong and squirrel antics.

Thank goodness winter has been cooperative. We’ve had the mildest winter in years (which probably doesn’t bode well in the wake of climate change and global warming.)

That reminds me, one of my Haiku chapbooks will be titled “Global Warning”. I’m gathering a lot of my Earth and weather-related Haiku for that one. It will come out after my next one – on writing.

I hate to think what will happen to our children’s children’s future. I’ve noticed the changes even in my lifetime. If we do nothing about it, the future will be far different from the past – and not to the good of mankind.

As I look forward to the long month of March and the beginning of spring, I would advise the writers among my readers to double down on their efforts. Write whenever and however you can. Edit what you’ve written to the eye of the reader. Publish your best efforts – cast you work upon the waters. You never know who’s going to swim by and lap it up (my unabashed cliché for the month).  And then promote, promote, promote.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my 1940’s noir fiction “The Seasons of Sam Rock” https://tinyurl.com/ydftx4xq

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

Writer’s Quandary

February 2018 Blog

Writer’s Quandary

I would cast my words upon the ether and give them life more eternal than my own.

Writer’s Quandary: A Haiku

What of what I write?

Hidden under a bushel?

Cast upon ether?

February 2018 Blog

What do you write when you want to write: “Life sucks and then you die” And, George (the dead girl form “Dead Like Me” who was killed by a toilet seat that fell from the space station) says, “It still sucks!”

Do I force myself to write something inspirational (and against my current mood), or do I go with the flow and embrace my “Debbie Downer” side? And does it matter anyway? This has got to be the least read blog of any out here in the blog-o-sphere.

Usually, when I’m in this kind of mood,  I just work on one of my novels and kill someone horrifically. But, today is the first of the month, and in keeping with my resolution from last year, I’m blogging.

Which reminds me, I didn’t  make any resolutions this year, so I don’t have to worry about breaking them. If I had made any, I’m certain they would have been broken by now. It’s been that kind of year so far. (Can’t believe that it’s only just started.)

So here I am free to write anything I want. Guess I’ll just practice crying in the wilderness.

I am not happy. I’m not happy with the current state of affairs in the United States or in the world, for that matter. I am not happy with myself, either. I don’t see either unhappiness being mitigated anytime soon. The only thing that seems to bring a smile to my face lately is sitting out in the sun in my back yard, watching the birds and the squirrels and writing.

Wait! That’s it! I’m happy when I’m writing! Within that statement may lie the solution. I need to write more.

I need to shut out the world I cannot control and immerse myself in the worlds over which I have complete control. Worlds in which the characters do my bidding and their existence is at my pleasure. Where they always do what I expect…

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes, my characters do exactly what they want to  do and turn my tales a whole different direction. Usually it’s for the best. They seem to know their own inclinations and can surprise me at every turn. They even make my job easier.

At times I merely put my pen to paper and their words flow scene after scene. That’s part of the joy of being a writer: the flow of words that make a cohesive story that you like even when you read it back to yourself.

That doesn’t always happen. There are times (during editing especially) that a writer comes to loathe the words on the page and would like to just to ditch the whole thing. In fact, we almost didn’t have Stephen King’s “Carrie” because he trash-canned it. We have it only because his wife Tabitha rescued it, read it and told him it had merit. One “Carrie” resurrected.

I wonder how many writers out there have become unduly discouraged and abandoned their “babies” before they even had a chance at birth.

Persistence, then, is the key. In fact, it is the key to so much in this world. Without it, we cannot succeed and in fact may fail just this side of a brilliant breakthrough.

I guess that is why I’m writing this blog. I am nothing if not persistent. (although it may take me a while to persist.)

I would advise all aspiring writers to make persistence part of their makeup. Write and keep writing. Edit, but don’t abandon. Pursue publishing vigorously, and repeat and repeat and repeat.

The breakthrough (however you define that) will come, or if it doesn’t, at least you will have spent quality time away from the world such as it is. You will also have yourself to thank for your success. You know I’m sure no one is going to hand success to you. It’s a battle all the way, but a worthwhile one.

I guess I’m feeling better now, and I know what I must do – spend more time in my happy place and write, write, write. Whether I’m widely read or not, I will have the satisfaction that I have said my piece and I will have some peace because of it.

I may not change the world, but I will give it a piece of my mind.

Okay, I’m smiling now. Catch you next month, when I may have some happy news on the publication of my next two Haiku chapbooks, my next Black Oak novel and my next Sam Rock, and then there’s my Acqueria sequel and prequel.

Oh, I am going to be so busy.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my contemporary paranormal “The Cottage”

https://www.amazon.com/Cottage-Ann-Wilmer-Lasky/dp/1514293870

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniversary Edition”

https://www.amazon.com/Castleweavers-Tales-Glimpses-Medieval-Anniversary/dp/1452863326

Resolutions

January 2018 Blog

Resolutions 2018

Revived from their dis-use last year: Must Write! Must Edit! Must Publish! Must Promote!

Resolved: A Haiku

There must come a peace –

Within if not without; I

Pray this be the year.

So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. This blog almost didn’t happen – or might have been very, very late. I’ve been down with a crummy cold for the past few days.  Not much thought for the pen and paper. I’m full of Alka-Seltzer fizzy stuff, so I’m up for writing this. Should get it posted before my midnight, once again.

I’m actually looking forward to this coming year. I plan on accomplishing a lot . (See, I said plan, not hope.)  Hoping doesn’t feed the bulldog – or so I’ve been told. (Just usurped part of an old saying I never really understood, except that it fits right here.)

As part of my Writer’s Resolutions for 2018:

I will chart each part of my writing goals this year. (See, I said will, not should or might.)

My “Must Write!” section will include the rough draft, the plotting and maintaining a bible of who’s  who and what they’re doing, as well as what they look like. That way, I catch if my heroine’s eyes change from blue to brown, or my hero’s hair from blond to sandy and back again. I might even keep a log of how many hours I spend on each. (Okay, I said might, and it might be might.)

The “Must Edit!” section on editing will include the first pass of checking the rough draft against the first printout for errors, omissions, or to make preliminary changes. The second pass is where weak dialog is punched up and story is expanded where needed (or changed if I made a really, really bad start). Then comes the final pass where all the little formatting problems are fixed and the bible is fleshed out with story and plot lines and how each character ends up, so that the dead stay dead, if I’m doing a series.

The “Must Publish!” section is relatively simple for an independent author. It is also the really hard part. I usually use a CreateSpace ( https://www.createspace.com ) template, so I can cut and paste the body of the book and the front material. But it is tedious and not everything goes smoothly. You need to pay close attention to detail including scene breaks, chapter headings, contents and index. (I try to index or at least list poetry titles in my chapbooks.)

Special Note:  It’s always best to order a proof copy of your novel before it goes live. It’s amazing the little things that pop out at you when you actually have the book in your hand. After you’ve corrected and/or okayed the print copy on line, you get to push the button to publish the book and make it available on Amazon and as many of its subsidiaries and outlets as possible.

Then you get to “Must Promote!” That’s where I still fall a little short. I’m great (or at least okay) with the technical stuff, but I’m a rank amateur at asking people to buy my book. Perhaps I should rethink that and say that I have difficulty letting potential readers know that I have something they might enjoy reading.

I believe I will find that promotion is the hardest thing of all, yet it is perhaps the most important. I don’t believe there’s any writer out there who doesn’t want what Stephen King has – fame and fortune. Seeing your book on the big screen can’t hurt either. I always picture my novels as movies. Too bad they will not get there in my lifetime.

Again, the happiest of New Years to you and yours. If you are a writer, the best luck to you. If you are a reader, please enjoy what I (and other independent authors) have to offer – our hearts and our souls on every page.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my paranormal Western “Black Oak: Town of Joy” http://tinyurl.com/hohuhce 

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

All Is Not Lost

December 2017 Blog

All Is Not Lost

Although the future is never guaranteed, at least the illusion of it appears with the possibilities of redemption.

Saving Grace: A Haiku

E’en as this year is

Weighed, found wanting, the next looms

On the horizon.

Besides surviving the year (so far), on my very short list of accomplishments in 2017 have been the posting of my daily Haiku daily and the posting of my monthly blog monthly.

     As 2018 looms, I feel the need to plan for a much brighter year with a far longer list of finished projects.

    Perhaps the new year will be my “year of the charts”. Maybe such visual reminders will help me focus. I might even get some of those tiny star stickers they used in schools to reward students for their good behavior. (We were such suckers for those little gold stars.)

    In addition to making charts and schedules this month for use next year, I need to finish the manuscript for this year’s NaNoWriMo ( https://nanowrimo.org ). I managed 54,000 plus words and another WriMo win. Now, during NaNoFiMo ( http://nanofimo.net ) I’ll write another 30,000 words for a good-sized novel I can edit in January and February for publication in the spring.

    Hopefully, 2018 will usher in a kinder, more gentle world, but I hold little hope for that. 2017 has seen an incredible amount of inhumanity among humans – both toward themselves and the other inhabitants of this Earth. Actually, we haven’t been very kind to the Earth itself, and Mother Nature has taken us to task for it.

    Climate change deniers aside, even believers are not doing enough to right the wrongs we are daily heaping upon an Earth that is nearing the tipping point. Once past that, it is my understanding that nothing we do will reverse the damage we have done.

    In my lifetime, the world has gone from the brightest of all possible futures to the bleakest of all scenarios – from unlimited riches available for all industrious peoples to a dystopia where there is no hope for the future of the world or its angry, angry populations.

    We have managed (in the span of seventy or so years) to send an Earth that has survived for millions of years into a tailspin that will leave it desolate and uninhabitable for any form of life. Thankfully, I will not live to witness its demise, but future generations (and not too distant future) will experience the ravages of the sun and the storms that we have only begun to feel.

    This is starting to sound like a dystopian novel. I’m starting to get an idea. I need another sequel to “The Chronicles of Acqueria”. I’m sure I can work in a lot of mayhem and destruction. After all, the not-so-dead volcano its inhabitants are sitting on has hinted at its own resurrection. I could have a few villains help it along.

    Oops, there’s that shiny object distracting me again. Gotta love all those shiny objects, but they do take a toll on my plans and objectives.

    I need to find a way to incorporate all my new shiny ideas into my charts, plans and schedules so I don’t have so many loose ends out there. I keep tripping over them. Then I fall down and have to start all over again.

    Distraction, thou art mine enemy. But really, where would a writer be without new ideas? I simply have to develop some discipline to keep progressing and actually finish some of these myriad projects I have started.

    So far, for next year, I can anticipate to continue my daily Haiku and look forward to publishing at least three collections of same.

    I also look forward to continuing my blogging on a regular basis. See, I have developed some sense of discipline. I must also release my darlings into the world and let them live lives of their own in the hearts and minds of my readers. My favorite people in the whole world. The people I love to share my ideas and my stories and characters with.

    I must remember that I write not only for myself, but for my readers, too.

    Oh wait, the characters in my head have just reminded me that I write for them – to give them life and being outside of myself. They are becoming very vocal. So before I’m accused of being schizophrenic, I better give them their own lives. There, that should keep me on track.

   But then, there’s…

  Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky